Politics

4:00 pm

Wed January 16, 2013

No Medicaid Expansion in Texas, Dewhurst Says

State Senate leaders say they want to improve the quality of Medicaid in Texas, but that doesn’t mean expanding it to cover more people.

The Affordable Care Act would broaden the pool of people who qualify for Medicaid in 2014 in states that choose to do that. But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says an expansion in Texas is off the table.

Dewhurst says he doesn’t support what he calls a “one size fits all plan” for Medicaid.

Dewhurst did throw his support today behind a pair of bills on Medicaid filed by state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound.

Nelson says the state lost $6 billion to Medicaid fraud between 2004 and 2011.

“Senate Bill 8 directs the Health and Human Services Commission to develop a program to identify outliers, anomalies and red flags in the Medicaid program so that we can deal with those abuse trends on the front end,” Nelson said.

Another bill Nelson filed today would redesign long-term and acute care services for the disabled and elderly.